WTAM Local News

AUDIO: WTAM reporter approached by wounded suspect

(Cleveland) -- A WTAM news anchor and reporter ended up being part of a developing news story Tuesday morning.

A suspect in a home invasion came up to our own Judy Thompson's care and aid he'd been shot. Thompson notified police, leading to the man's arrest.

Thompson, who anchors Saturday afternoons on WTAM, says that shortly after 9:00 a.m. she was waiting for a red light at East 200th and Pawnee Avenue. A man got out of a parked car, came over to her car, knocked on the window and said, "Can you please help me? I've been shot. I've been shot."

Thompson rolled down her car window just a crack, and told the man to sit down on a lawn nearby and she'd go get some help. Thompson then drove to a nearby restaurant where police officers from both Cleveland and Euclid are known to frequent.

She told a Euclid police officer what happened, and he found the man sitting on a lawn. Thompson says, "All of a sudden there was a swarm of police."

WTAM has learned the man was a suspect in an armed home invasion that had happened on Pawnee Avenue just a few minutes earlier. It ended when the homeowner pulled out his own gun and shot the man.

The man who came up to Judy's car had been wounded. He is now at MetroHealth Medical Center. There's no word on his condition. Another suspect is still at large.

Judy says she's still trying to process all this.

"I wouldn't have wanted to think that I ignored someone in a time of need, but I'm also glad they also got one of the alleged perpetrators of this home invasion," says Thompson.